Tony Award Missteps

The nominations for the 2009 Tony Awards were announced last week and have left many – including the CultureBuddies - scratching their heads and wondering if they saw the same shows we did last year. While some of the nominees were obvious and made total sense- like the entire cast of God of Carnage getting nominations- some omissions were astounding. Didn’t the people who made these nominations see The Seagull last year? How could they have omitted Kristen Scott Thomas and Carrie Mulligan? What about All My Sons? Even if the nominators didn’t care for the director’s take on the play, surely Dianne Wiest , John Lithgow, and Patrick Wilson merited nominations. The total omission of Desire Under the Elms from every category was surprising especially after the reviews and may be the reason for it’s early closing announced this week. How could they have seriously nominated Constantine Maroulis for his performance in the juke box show Rock of Ages and omitted the male leads in West Side Story? What were those nominators thinking?